a blog that is authored by Matt but is yours and the tea's as much as it is his

Tuesday, January 16, 2018

2017 Yunnan Sourcing Blinded Puerh Tasting Event Alpha & Beta

This is classic, old-style, puerh blogger fun and
games!It was a bit of a puerh blogging
tradition back in the day to sample the latest Yunnan Sourcing brand puerh
blinded and see how poorly you could guess the tea producing area.This sport was usually orchestrated by good
ol’ Hobbes of the Half-Dipper (see here, here and here).These events always kept me sampling teas
from different areas at times in my life when I would have not otherwise sought
that out. So I am grateful that Hobbes and Scott had taken the time and
consideration in organizing these events in the past.On my return back to puerh tea I was back and
forth with Scott of Yunnan Sourcing about reviving this tradition and he loved
the idea.So here we are (Thanks again Scott)…

As per tradition and as a homage to the old Half-Dipper/
Yunnan Sourcing Events of years past, the samples were labeled only with Greek
letters (Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta).They were sent to many of the current puerh bloggers
who agreed to have a little fun with this (as well as myself).

I can only surmise that my ability to guess such areas has
likely decreased substantially since my long absence from the puerh scene.Back in the day Yunnan Sourcing was producing tea from a lot of the classic/ popular areas mainly in Xishuangbanna and
they were producing much less tea.That
first Yunnan Sourcing Tasting Event there were only 9 teas produced by them to
guess from, in 2017 last I counted there was 34!At that time, I would say my guesses were a
touch below 50% - not bad at all!

I have no experience with any of Yunnan Sourcing brand puerh from 2017 or even the last number of years and a lot of the puerh we
might be sampling will likely be from areas I have not even tried.However I will put it all out there for you
readers and fellow bloggers and guess my best. Hahaha.. Although I was supplied enough dry leaves for
two sessions per sample in my small pot I have based the notes below on a
single sampling.I look forward to
sampling them again after reading all the other tasting notes and seeing how my
experience with them will change with this knowledge.

Now that I have adequately lowered expectations and nicely
self-handicapped myself lets dive right into the Alpha sample… hahahaa….

Alpha

The dry leaves smell of very spicy pungent and dominating
mushroom fungus funky odours and more distant sour/sweet notes.This immediately smells like an interesting
puerh or it is a blend???

The first infusion emits a very spicy pungent sweet initial
taste and slowly develops into a watery mushroom profile in a light
mouthfeel.There is a soft returning
sweetness of sweet, barely cotton candy taste and slight grassiness.The mouthfeel is very light and the
throatfeel even lighter.

The second infusion starts with a more bitter-sweet pungent
taste followed by bitterness and that base mushroom taste.There is a more grittiness to the taste.The aftertaste displays signs of vegetal
tastes, hay, mushrooms, and pungent tastes.There is not as much sweetness here.The mouthfeel becomes a soft graininess in the mouth.Minutes later there is a sweet-pungent turbid
like taste in the throat.

The third infusion starts with a slightly creamy-flat-gritty
bitter-sweetness.There is a pronounced
vegetal taste initially followed by hay and mushroom tastes.A mild cotton candy like sweetness expands in
the throat and evolves slowly into a turbid vegetal taste.

The fourth starts with a grainy, hay, vegetal like sweetness
with just edges of cream.It carries the
base taste of mushrooms and hay into the aftertaste which has a nice opening
cotton candy sweetness.All this happens
on a mild grainy mouthfeel and throatfeel which is grainy at the top throat and
slightly opening at the mid throat.The
effect pushes some saliva into the mid throat- holding a turbid slight sweet vegetal
mushroom taste there minutes later.The
qi of this tea is very alerting and invigorating on the mind but very mild on
the body.

The fifth has a melon initial taste now that develops into a
slight pungent mint sweetness.The base
taste is slight mushroom vegetal taste.The aftertaste has a turbid vegetalness to it.

The sixth has a slight bitter-sweet taste over grains and
hay.The granary hay taste joins
mushroom in the base taste.The aftertaste
becomes bitter as well as still slightly sweet.There is a gumminess in the mouth afterwards.The seventh tastes much the same as the
sixth.There is lots of layers of
flavors to this tea.

The eighth infusion starts slightly bitter-sour vegetal
taste and to sweet.It moves to sweet
bursts and then to mushroom hay tastes. In this infusion the sweet nicely pops
transitioning from bitter to sweet then opening up to the base tastes.The mouthfeel of this tea is mild and grainy
but full.

The ninth starts to flatten out a bit in the initial taste
but still retains much flavor throughout the profile.

The tenth starts to hollow out under flash steepings.With melon watery tastes over faint sweetness
mushroom, and hay.

The eleventh and twelvth is much the same starting with a
watery sour sweet vegetal taste with mild hay and subtle returning
sweetness.The mouthfeel is slightly
sandy and mild.The qi of this tea is nice
and gives a partially euphoric type feeling in a whole lot of alertness.

I let this one overnight steep after leaving it sit for a
few days in the pot and I am left with a sour almost briney taste sweet woods.

Out of all the samples in this even this one was the hardest
for me to determine. When I was actually drinking it I was leaning to either Simao
or possibly Yiwu in my thoughts.I also
tasted some Mengku notes in there as well.I’m guessing its Simao maybe this 2017 Yunnan Souring Brand Da Qing Gu Shu.

The first infusion is light and watery and has hints of
barely sweet icing sugar that transform into a slight barely noticeable vanilla
and vacuous barely noted sweetness.

The second infusion starts off a touch sour and creamy.It carries a barely creamy fluffy
sweetness.It has a slightly tart and
puckery drying taste and mouth feeling.The astringency opens the mid throat up to faint sweet/ creamy note in
distant forest/wood notes.Overall this
tea starts off very light in taste with a more stimulating mouth and throat
feel.

Third starts with a slightly creamy sweetness.The sourness is less now but still
noticeable.The taste profile is short
and relatively simple.It ends with a
mildly astringent throat feel, faint florals and sugary sweetness.There is a slight dry wood taste starting to
emerge.

The fourth opens with brisk, short initial tastes of sour
sweetness.A dry wood base taste is
emerging and gets stronger with sour wood tastes in the aftertaste along with
slight florals.The mouthfeel is
moderately drying and astringent.Overall the taste profile is short and simple with this tea in a fairly
simulating throat and mouthfeel.

The fifth has an almost grapefruit like sour sweetness as
well as a creamy sweetness that makes its way past the dry wood taste to the
aftertaste.In the aftertaste the creamy
sweetness expands in the slightly astringent throatfeel.The qi of this tea is relaxing and makes the head
feel stuffy and expansive, like a pressure or build up there.It also makes the arms feel light and airy.

The sixth is smoother in taste with less sour and more muted
creamy sweetness up front.There are
faint notes of vanilla and barely notes of florals in this clean tasting
infusion.The mouth and throat feel are
nice as they are moderately astringent but never choking or restricting.The qi sensation in the head starts to build
into a very qi stoned, floating feeling.

The seventh infusion is very nice and smooth with clear
sweet creamy, not really floral tastes over very light woody notes.This tea is very clean, very tight, simple in
taste, complex in qi, nice in mouth/throat feeling.The sweetness has an icing sugar taste.There are no turbid or vegetal or forstesy
tastes in this tea just a very pure tasting, short profile.The qi is very very euphoric.

The eighth infusion becomes more creamy, cohesive, and
tastes much more sweet.This tea is just
starting to shine with pure, sweet, surgary tastes.The sweet taste lingers in the throat.

The ninth infusion presents with creamy sweetness
again.There are almost fruit notes in
there now.The sweetness softly swells
in the mouth and lingers in the aftertaste.

The tenth infusion I start adding 10 seconds to the flash
infusions and it results in a touch stronger but not that different taste
profile.If anything the mouthfeel
becomes fuller with a touch longer infusion time here giving it a similar but
more full taste.

The eleventh infusion I add 5 more seconds to the flash
infusion (15 seconds more) and the result is a faint mango taste as well as a
gummy wood taste dominates the soft profile of this tea.

The twelfth infusion I drop back down to 10 seconds to see I
there is still any of the lighter tastes left.I am greeted with light sweet mango fruit tastes with develop into a
rubbery wood taste in the aftertaste.

The thirteenth infusion is much the same but has a
pronounced sugary aftertaste amongst the rubbery wood tastes.

Fourteenth is considerably lighter at a 10 second
steeping.The fifteenth has an enjoyable
fruit hue to it over the sugary sweetness and clean profile.There is a slight rubbery after taste here.

This tea has some nice stamina to it as well.This is mainly due to the lack of bitter or
over astringent flavours which allows this one to be pushed to the end.

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